San Francisco History Association 2016 Awards Dinner Honoring The Emperor's Bridge Campaign, Paul Madonna, Max Kirkeberg, Glen Park Neighborhoods History Project

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE :: Contact: Ron Ross: [phone], [e-mail].
San Francisco History Association

2016 Awards Dinner

Honoring The Emperor's Bridge Campaign, Paul Madonna,

Max Kirkeberg, Glen Park Neighborhoods History Project
Saturday, July 9, 2016
San Francisco Italian Athletic Club, 1630 Stockton Street (at Union), North Beach, S.F.

No-host bar 6:30 p.m.; Dinner 7:30 p.m. Silent auction. $65 per person.

RSVP by June 25 to 415-750-9986 or www.sanfranciscohistory.org.
This year's awardees are:
1. Ron Ross Founder’s Award: The Emperor's Bridge Campaign

This award is named after (who else?) Ron P. Ross, who founded the San Francisco History Association in 1982. The award is given each year to a person, group, or organization for performing an impressive undertaking that supports San Francisco history.

In summer 2013, history-minded writer and architectural advocate John Lumea launched an online petition to name the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge for Emperor Norton, the 19th-century eccentric and visionary who set out a vision for the bridge in 1872. The petition took off. Two months later, Lumea launched the Emperor's Bridge Campaign to carry forward the idea. Today, the campaign is a nonprofit that works on a variety of fronts—research, education and advocacy—to honor the life and advance the legacy of the Emperor.
2. Dr. Albert Shumate Memorial Award: Max Kirkeberg

Dr. Shumate was a member of the SFHA and president emeritus of the California Historical Society as well as a survivor of the 1906 earthquake and fire. He was also an accomplished San Francisco author. This award is presented each year to a person, group, or organization for doing something remarkable to spark the preservation or remembrance of the city’s history.

For more than 50 years, Professor Emeritus Max Kirkeberg of San Francisco State University has documented the urban geography of the San Francisco Bay Area in almost 60,000 slides. His photo collection was a by-product of his field classes, walking tours, and related slide lectures of various San Francisco neighborhoods. His photographs are being digitized by the DIVA archives at SFSU and are freely available for viewing.
3. Oscar Lewis Award: Paul Madonna
This award, named for the noted author who wrote many books on San Francisco history, honors authors, publishers, or lecturers who have written books or otherwise helped educate the public on matters of San Francisco history.

Paul Madonna is a San Francisco-based artist and writer. He is the creator of the series “All Over Coffee,” which ran in the San Francisco Chronicle, and the author of two books, All Over Coffee and Everything Is Its Own Reward, which won the 2011 NCBR Recognition Award for Best Book. Paul’s drawings and stories have appeared in numerous international books and journals as well as galleries and museums, including the San Francisco Contemporary Jewish Museum and the Oakland Museum of California.
4. Walter G. Jebe, Sr. Neighborhood Award: Glen Park Neighborhoods History Project

This award is named for the late Mr. Jebe, a historian and lifelong resident of the Excelsior District who was also president emeritus of the SFHA. It is presented each year to a person or organization for focusing on local neighborhood history or to an ongoing project to educate and enlighten the residents of an area of the city.

The neighborhoods of Glen Park, Glen Canyon, Sunnyside, Fairmount Heights, and Diamond Heights have rich and diverse histories at risk of being forgotten. In 2014, Glen Park resident Evelyn Rose founded the Glen Park Neighborhoods History Project (GPNHP), which strives to rediscover, document, and share the area’s histories to help preserve the neighborhoods’ legacies for current and future generations. The GPNHP offers history walks and provides a platform for residents to share and publish their research.

Photo credits:

Image of Paul Madonna courtesy Paul Madonna; images of Emperor Norton and his proclamation courtesy the Emperor's Bridge Campaign; photo of Max Kirkeberg courtesy Max Kirkeberg/SFSU; image of Glen Park Neighborhoods History Project courtesy Evelyn Rose.

Photographs of awardees and their works are available on request, as are photographs of Ron Ross and the SFHA board as well as previous SFHA dinners and award recipients.

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P.O. Box 31907  San Francisco, CA 94131  415-750-9986  www.sanfranciscohistory.org